From Interiors to Graphics: Behind the Scenes of Designing The Whole Nine Yards
Rayon's Q&A session with Interior Designer Charista Boatwright
“Rayon has completely streamlined our workflow. It makes everything easier and more efficient, which allows us to spend less time managing communication and technical steps — and more time focusing on the creative aspects of our projects.”
Founded in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Nine Yard Design was born from initiative, adaptability, and a willingness to say “yes.” What began as a graphic design venture quickly evolved into a multidisciplinary interior design studio after their first commercial opportunity snowballed into many more.
Today, the boutique team led by founder Christa Boatwright delivers interiors, branding, graphic design, and spatial solutions across residential and commercial projects. With a philosophy rooted in collaboration, listening, and community, Nine Yard Design truly offers “the whole nine yards,” blending creativity with technical excellence in every project.
We sat down with Christa to explore Nine Yard Design’s creative process — and how integrating Rayon into their workflow has transformed the way they work, saving valuable time and making communication faster, clearer, and more seamless.
Can you introduce yourself and your studio?
I’m Christa Boatwright, founder of Nine Yard Design. We’re based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The studio started as a graphic design venture but quickly shifted into interiors after our first commercial project took off. Today, we handle interiors, branding, and graphic design — literally the whole nine yards. We’re a small team of three and absolutely love what we do.
We started purely with commercial projects, including a Chinese restaurant and, later, a hotel. Interestingly, we only began residential work during COVID. For a while, residential dominated our portfolio, and now commercial projects are starting to return. The balance keeps things exciting.
How do you understand and meet your clients’ needs?
We start by listening — really listening. Often, clients don’t fully know what they want yet, so we begin with conversations about their lives or business. We collaborate internally, build mood boards, and develop space planning solutions that evolve through discussion. It’s always a collaborative and iterative process, and we make sure clients enjoy the journey.
Design is about people. We learn from everyone on site — clients, contractors, joiners, suppliers. One of our earliest lessons was realizing that being “unteachable” is a problem. Respecting others’ experiences strengthens the project and builds trust.
What advice would you give designers starting their careers?
Invest in good software and hardware. It changes your workflow completely and elevates your professionalism. Beyond that, build community. Lean on others in the industry. There’s space for everyone — and when one of us succeeds, we all do.
My two teammates are actually former students of mine. They each bring their own style and strengths, which creates a rich design dialogue in the studio. We bounce ideas off each other constantly. Having that diversity of thought gives our projects depth and freshness.
How has Rayon improved your design process?
Coming from a CAD background, I was used to juggling multiple tools. Rayon streamlined everything into one intuitive platform. The collaborative features are incredible — seeing the team working together in real time is such a boost. It cut our workflow almost in half on some projects.
Rayon also makes our drawings stand out on site — contractors literally call them “the pretty drawings.” The colors, line weights, and layouts help communicate ideas clearly. We’ve even used Rayon in real time with clients to explain design decisions. It removes technical barriers and makes design accessible to everyone.
What stands out most about working with Rayon?
All the assets we need are already in Rayon, like blocks and templates. Not having to download and collate blocks saves us enormous time. It’s plug-and-play in the best possible way.
It’s intuitive and quick to learn. Also, when we request features, they appear. It genuinely feels like the Rayon team is very reactive - That support makes a huge difference.
Rayon is the fastest tool for creating perfect architectural drawings; it's the next-generation CAD software for interior designers and architects working in teams!
Want to know more about Rayon? Watch this 20-minute demo or check out Rayon's YouTube channel for more interviews and tutorials.